Method for beam steering in multiple-input multiple-output system

ABSTRACT

Embodiments herein provides a method and system for beam steering in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system. The method comprising determining a precoder matrix based on at least one of an inter-antenna element spacing controlled based on a selection of a number of antenna elements at the transmitter and a location of at least one receiver; and steering a transmit beam using the precoder matrix towards the at least one receiver. Yet another embodiments proposes the method and system for steering the at least one optimal receive beam or optimal sub-receive beam towards the at least one transmitter based on at least one of a Channel Quality Indication (CQI), a Channel State Information (CSI), and a location.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to wireless communicationsystems and more particularly to a method for beam steering in aMultiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system. The present application isa continuation-in-part application of U.S. application Ser. No.15/204,477 filed on 7 Jul. 2016, and claims priority from an IndianApplication Number 3728/CHE/2015 filed on 20 Jul. 2015, the disclosuresof which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Radio spectrum is a very scarce resource due to its limited availabilityfor cellular communications and demand for very high data rateapplications, which is growing exponentially. Frequency reuse utilizesthe available radio resources efficiently by using same frequencyspectrum in multiple cells which are geographically located at differentplaces. Further, the frequency reuse is a preferred mode of deploymentwhere each sector uses entire available frequency resources thus,introducing co-channel interference (CCI) and severely affecting usersat a boundary between cells. Also, a greater number of antennas at areceiver can cancel or suppress the interference from co-channels, whichin turn increases spectral efficiency.

MIMO is another technology that can help in increasing capacity of awireless system for a given bandwidth and power; this is the key reasonfor using the MIMO technique in technologies such as Long-TermEvaluation (LTE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). Further, the MIMO can beclassified into two types such as a single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) and amulti-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). In case of the SU-MIMO, multiplexed datastreams belong to same receiver and rank adaptation offers thepossibility to dynamically adapt a number of data streams for thereceiver to current channel conditions. Further, multiple antennas canalso be used to increase the diversity by transmitting multiple copiesof same information. At the receiver, by appropriately combining ofthese replicas, a more reliable reception can be achieved.

In case of third generation (3G) or fourth generation (4G) technologies,as the operating frequency is in hundreds of MHz, independent channelrealizations can be obtained with enough spacing between the antennas.Since space is less of a constraint at a base station (BS), deployingthe multiple antennas at the BS is simple. However, the deployment ofmultiple antennas at the receiver can be a challenge due to the smalldevice form factor, cost, and complexity issues. Therefore, the numberof spatial dimensions of the SU-MIMO that can be exploited is limited bythe number of antennas at the receiver.

To overcome the above limitations, the antennas of the receivers locatedin different geographic locations can be treated as a part of a largerMIMO, and same time-frequency resources are shared by more than onereceiver belonging to multiple users located in different geographicallocations. This type of the MU-MIMO improves the overall systemthroughput by increasing spectral efficiency instead of per receiverpeak throughput. Further, the performance of the MU-MIMO mainly dependson the scheduling technique. However, the receivers scheduled for theMU-MIMO still experience multi-user interference when Channel StateInformation (CSI) is outdated or when users experience non-orthogonalchannel between them.

The above information is presented as background information only tohelp the reader to understand the present invention. Applicants havemade no determination and make no assertion as to whether any of theabove might be applicable as Prior Art with regard to the presentapplication.

OBJECT OF INVENTION

The principal object of the embodiments herein is to provide a methodfor beam steering in a MIMO system.

Another object of the embodiments herein is to provide a system andmethod thereof for steering, by a transmitter, a transmit beam using aprecoder matrix determined based on a plurality of parameters, where thetransmit beam is formed using at least one of a weight of each antennaelement, a number of antenna elements, and an inter-antenna elementspacing.

Yet another object of the embodiments herein is to provide a system andmethod thereof for obtaining, by the transmitter, at least one of atleast one Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), at least one Channel StateInformation (CSI), at least one optimal transmit beam selected by atleast one receiver, and a location of the at least one receiver.

Yet another object of the embodiments herein is to provide a system andmethod thereof for steering, by the transmitter, at least one transmitbeam based on at least one of the at least one CQI, the at least oneCSI, the at least one optimal transmit beam reported by the at least onereceiver, and the location of the at least one receiver, where the atleast one transmit beam is formed using at least one of the weight ofeach antenna element, the number of antenna elements, and theinter-antenna element spacing.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the invention provides a method for beam steering in aMultiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system. The method comprisingdetermining, by a transmitter, a precoder matrix based on at least oneof an inter-antenna element spacing controlled based on a selection of anumber of antenna elements at the transmitter and a location of at leastone receiver; and steering, by the transmitter, a transmit beam usingthe precoder matrix towards the at least one receiver.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a transmitter for beamsteering in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, thetransmitter comprising a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory.The processor is configured to determine a precoder matrix based on atleast one of an inter-antenna element spacing controlled based on aselection of a number of antenna elements at the transmitter and alocation of at least one receiver, and steer a transmit beam using theprecoder matrix towards the at least one receiver.

In an embodiment, a width of the transmit beam, a direction of thetransmit beam, a gain of the transmit beam, at least one Channel QualityIndicator (CQI), at least one Channel State Information (CSI), andinterference information are used along with the at least one of theinter-antenna element spacing at the transmitter and the location of atleast one receiver to determine the precoder matrix.

In an embodiment, the width of the transmit beam, the direction of thetransmit beam, and the gain of the transmit beam are determined based onat least one of the location of the at least one receiver, the at leastone CQI, the at least one CSI, and the interference information.

In an embodiment, the width of the transmit beam, the direction of thetransmit beam, and the gain of the transmit beam are controlled based onat least one of the number of transmit antenna elements, the selectionof the number of transmit antenna elements and the inter-antenna elementspacing at the transmitter.

In an embodiment, the precoder matrix comprises a weight vectordetermined based on the number of antenna elements, wherein the weightvector comprises the weight of each of the antenna elements.

In an embodiment, the inter-antenna element spacing is determined basedon at least one of the location of the at least one receiver, at leastone CQI, at least one CSI, and interference information.

In an embodiment, at least one of the number of antenna elements andeach of the antenna elements of the number of antenna elements areselected based on at least one of the location of the at least onereceiver, at least one CQI, at least one CSI, and interferenceinformation.

In an embodiment, the antenna elements are arranged in a two-dimensionalarray to create multiple beams within a coverage area.

In an embodiment, the precoder matrix is one of static and semi-static.

In an embodiment, the precoder matrix is changed dynamically.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a method for beam steeringin a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, the method comprisingforming, by a receiver, a plurality of receive beams; detecting, by thereceiver, a plurality of transmit beams from at least one transmitterusing at least one receive beam from the plurality of receive beams;measuring, by the receiver, at least one of at least one Channel QualityIndicator (CQI) of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, at least one Channel State Information (CSI) of the atleast one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams;determining, by the receiver, at least one optimal transmit beam fromthe plurality of transmit beams and at least one optimal receive beamfrom the plurality of receive beams based on at least one of the atleast one CQI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, the at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beamfrom the plurality of transmit beams; reporting, by the receiver, to theat least one transmitter at least one optimal transmit beam determinedfrom the plurality of transmit beams and at least one of the at leastone CQI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmitbeams, at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams, and a location of the receiver; andsteering, by the receiver, the at least one optimal receive beam towardsthe at least one transmitter.

Further, the method comprising forming, by the receiver, a plurality ofsub-receive beams within the at least one optimal receive beam;detecting, by the receiver, a plurality of sub-transmit beams within theat least one optimal transmit beam from the at least one transmitterusing the at least one sub-receive beam from the plurality ofsub-receive beams; measuring, by the receiver, at least one of at leastone CQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams, and at least one CSI of the at least onesub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams; determining,by the receiver, at least one optimal sub-transmit beam from theplurality of sub-transmit beams and at least one optimal sub-receivebeam from the plurality of sub-receive beams based on at least one ofthe at least one CQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from theplurality of sub-transmit beams, and the at least one CSI of the atleast one sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams;reporting, by the receiver, to the at least one transmitter, the atleast one optimal sub-transmit beam determined from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams and at least one of the at least one CQI of the atleast one sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams,the at least one CSI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from theplurality of sub-transmit beams, and the location of the receiver; andsteering, by the receiver, the at least one optimal sub-receive beamtowards the at least one transmitter.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a receiver for beamsteering in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, the receivercomprising a memory and a processor, coupled to the memory. Theprocessor configured to form a plurality of receive beams, detect aplurality of transmit beams from at least one transmitter using at leastone receive beam from the plurality of receive beams, measure at leastone of at least one Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) of the at least onetransmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams, at least one ChannelState Information (CSI) of the at least one transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams, determine at least one optimal transmitbeam from the plurality of transmit beams and at least one optimalreceive beam from the plurality of receive beams based on at least oneof the at least one CQI of the at least one transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams, the at least one CSI of the at least onetransmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams, report to the atleast one transmitter at least one optimal transmit beam determined fromthe plurality of transmit beams and at least one of the at least one CQIof the at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams,at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, and a location of the receiver, and steer the at leastone optimal receive beam towards the at least one transmitter.

Further, the processor is further configured to form a plurality ofsub-receive beams within the at least one optimal receive beam, detect aplurality of sub-transmit beams within the at least one optimal transmitbeam from the at least one transmitter using the at least onesub-receive beam from the plurality of sub-receive beams, measure atleast one of at least one CQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam fromthe plurality of sub-transmit beams, and at least one CSI of the atleast one sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams,determine at least one optimal sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams and at least one optimal sub-receive beam from theplurality of sub-receive beams based on at least one of the at least oneCQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams, and the at least one CSI of the at least onesub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams, report tothe at least one transmitter the at least one optimal sub-transmit beamdetermined from the plurality of sub-transmit beams and at least one ofthe at least one CQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from theplurality of sub-transmit beams, the at least one CSI of the at leastone sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams, and thelocation of the receiver, and steer the at least one optimal sub-receivebeam towards the at least one transmitter.

In an embodiment, to increase the reliability of the reception, the atleast one receive beam from the plurality of receive beams is steered bydynamically cycling at least one precoder matrix over an allocatedresource, wherein dynamic cycling is performed over at least one of atime resource and a frequency resource. Similarly, the at least onesub-receive beam from the plurality of sub-receive beams is steered bydynamically cycling at least one precoder matrix over an allocatedresource, wherein dynamic cycling is performed over at least one of atime resource and a frequency resource.

In an embodiment, the at least one optimal receive beam is a widerreceive beam used to receive at least one of broadcast signal andcontrol signal from the at least one transmitter.

In an embodiment, the at least one optimal sub-receive beam is a narrowreceive beam used to receive data signals from the at least onetransmitter.

In an embodiment, a width of the receive beam, a direction of thereceive beam, and a gain of the receive beam are controlled based on atleast one of the number of receive antenna elements, the selection ofthe number of receive antenna elements and the inter-antenna elementspacing at the receiver.

These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be betterappreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings. It should beunderstood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicatingpreferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are givenby way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes andmodifications can be made within the scope of the embodiments hereinwithout departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments hereininclude all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, throughoutwhich like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the variousfigures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from thefollowing description with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level overview of a MIMO system for beamsteering when a location of at least one receiver is known to atransmitter, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example structure of an Active Antenna System(AAS) with cross polarized antenna elements, according to an embodimentas disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of a Transmitter Receiver Unit (TXRU)using a sub-array and full connection models, according to an embodimentas disclosed herein; and

FIG. 4 illustrates various units of a transmitter, according to anembodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for beam steering when alocation of at least one receiver is known to a transmitter, accordingto an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIGS. 6a-6c illustrate a high-level overview of a MIMO system for beamsteering when a location of a receiver is unknown to a transmitter,according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIGS. 7a and 7b illustrate another high-level overview of a MIMO systemfor beam steering when a location of at least one receiver is unknown toa transmitter, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for beam steering when alocation of at least one receiver is unknown to a transmitter, accordingto an embodiment as disclosed herein; and

FIG. 9 illustrates various units of a receiver, according to anembodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 10 illustrate a high-level overview of a MIMO system for multipletransmit and receive beams steering, according to an embodiment asdisclosed herein;

FIG. 11 illustrate a high-level overview of a MIMO system for multiplesub-transmit and sub-receive beams steering, according to an embodimentas disclosed herein;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method at a receiver for beamsteering towards the transmitter; and

FIG. 13 illustrates a computing environment implementing a method andsystem for beam steering, according to embodiments as disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous detailsthereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limitingembodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddetailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-knowncomponents and processing techniques are omitted so as to notunnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. Also, the variousembodiments described herein are not necessarily mutually exclusive, assome embodiments can be combined with one or more other embodiments toform new embodiments. The term “or” as used herein, refers to anon-exclusive or, unless otherwise indicated. The examples used hereinare intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which theembodiments herein can be practiced and to further enable those skilledin the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examplesshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

The embodiments herein disclose a method for beam steering in a MultipleInput Multiple Output (MIMO) system. The method comprising determining,by a transmitter, a precoder matrix based on at least one of aninter-antenna element spacing controlled based on a selection of anumber of antenna elements at the transmitter and a location of at leastone receiver; and steering, by the transmitter, a transmit beam usingthe precoder matrix towards the at least one receiver.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a method for beam steeringin a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, the method comprisingforming, by a receiver, a plurality of receive beams; detecting, by thereceiver, a plurality of transmit beams from at least one transmitterusing at least one receive beam from the plurality of receive beams;measuring, by the receiver, at least one of at least one Channel QualityIndicator (CQI) of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, at least one Channel State Information (CSI) of the atleast one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams;determining, by the receiver, at least one optimal transmit beam fromthe plurality of transmit beams and at least one optimal receive beamfrom the plurality of receive beams based on at least one of the atleast one CQI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, the at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beamfrom the plurality of transmit beams; reporting, by the receiver, to theat least one transmitter at least one optimal transmit beam determinedfrom the plurality of transmit beams and at least one of the at leastone CQI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmitbeams, at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams, and a location of the receiver; andsteering, by the receiver, the at least one optimal receive beam towardsthe at least one transmitter.

Unlike conventional methods and systems, multiple beams within a sectorarea are of great interest, and referred as Virtual sectorization. Thisfeature can be exploited to have better control on a direction and awidth of the antenna beam with respect to the receiver. Thus, achievingmaximum array gain which reduces co-channel interference (CCI) resultingin overall gain in the system throughput.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through13, where similar reference characters denote corresponding featuresconsistently throughout the figures, there are shown preferredembodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level overview of a MIMO system 100 for beamsteering when a location of at least one receiver is detected by atransmitter, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein. In anembodiment, the MIMO system 100 includes the transmitter 102, aplurality of receivers 104 _(1-K) (here after referred as thereceiver(s) 104), and an Active Antenna System (AAS) 106. In anembodiment, the transmitter 102 can be a base station. In an embodiment,the receiver 104 can be a user equipment (UE). The AAS 106 includes aplurality of antenna elements arranged in a two-dimensional (2D) arraywith each element or sub-array of elements integrated with an amplifierand other beam forming components.

The transmitter 102 can be configured to steer at least one transmitbeam using a precoder matrix determined based on a plurality ofparameters, where the transmit beam is formed using at least one of aweight of each antenna element, a number of antenna elements, and aninter-antenna element spacing. In an embodiment, the parameter is atleast one of a width, a direction, a gain, a location of the receiver104, at least one CQI, at least one CSI, and interference information.In an embodiment, the width, the direction, and the gain are determinedbased on the location of the receiver 104. In an embodiment, theprecoder matrix is static or semi-static. In an embodiment, the precodermatrix is changed dynamically.

In an embodiment, weighting vectors (i.e., the precoder matrix) on theantenna elements can be changed based on a horizontal and a verticaltilt, where the horizontal and the vertical tilt can be computed usingthe location coordinates of the receiver 104. In an example, thelocation of the receiver 104 can be achieved by existing positionidentification mechanisms. Further, the transmit beam can be tilted to adesired direction by appropriately combining the weights. Strategy mayinclude CCI reduction, inter-stream interference reduction, side lobesuppression, multiple lobe formation, or the like. Further, the beamformation weight vectors can be calculated based on either virtual subsectoring of original sector or based on the location of the receiver104. In an example, LTE release 11 onwards supports the multiple CSIprocesses for transmitting reference signals. The CSI process isconfigured based on the location of the receiver 104 and the transmitbeam direction.

In an embodiment, the weight vector is determined based on inter-antennaelement spacing controlled based on a selection of antenna elements. Anyinter-antenna element spacing is achieved based on a selection of theantenna elements.

EXAMPLE 1

If N number of antenna elements are vertically arranged, the weightfactor with w_(n) is given by the following equation

$\begin{matrix}{{w_{n} = {\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}{\exp( {2{\pi \cdot i \cdot ( {n - 1} ) \cdot \frac{d_{v}}{\lambda} \cdot {\sin( \theta_{vTilt} )}}} )}}},{n = 1},2,{\ldots\mspace{14mu} N}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

-   -   where d_(V) is vertical spacing between antenna elements in        meters, λ is wavelength in meters and θ_(vTilt) is elevation        tilt in radians.

EXAMPLE 2

If N number of antenna elements are horizontally arranged, the weightfactor with w_(n) is given by the following equation

$\begin{matrix}{{w_{n} = {\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}{\exp( {2{\pi \cdot i \cdot ( {n - 1} ) \cdot \frac{d_{H}}{\lambda} \cdot {\sin( \varphi_{hTilt} )}}} )}}},{n = 1},2,{\ldots\mspace{14mu} N}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

-   -   where d_(H) is horizontal spacing between the antenna elements        in meters, λ is wavelength in meters and φ_(hTilt) is horizontal        tilt in radians.

EXAMPLE 3

If of antenna elements are arranged in both vertically and horizontally,the weight factor w_(m,n) is given by the following equation

$\begin{matrix}{{w_{m,n} = {\frac{1}{\sqrt{N_{H}N_{V}}}{\exp( {{i \cdot 2}{\pi( {{( {n - 1} ) \cdot \frac{d_{V}}{\lambda} \cdot {\sin( \theta_{vTilt} )}} - {( {m - 1} ) \cdot \frac{d_{H}}{\lambda} \cdot {\cos( \theta_{eTilt} )} \cdot {\sin( \varphi_{hTilt} )}}} )}} )}}}{{m = 1},2,{{\ldots\mspace{14mu} N_{H}};{n = 1}},2,{{\ldots\mspace{14mu} N_{V}};}}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

-   -   where N_(H) is number of antenna elements in horizontal, N_(V)        is number of antenna elements in vertical, d_(V) is vertical        spacing between antenna elements in meters, d_(H) is vertical        spacing between antenna elements in meters, λ is wavelength in        meters, θ_(vTilt) is elevation tilt in radians and φ_(hTilt) is        horizontal tilt in radians.

From the equations (1)-(3), d_(V) and d_(H) can be varied by suitablyselecting the antenna elements in the 2D AAS structure, and θ_(vTilt)and φ_(hTilt) can be derived using the location of the transmitter andthe receiver.

In an embodiment, the number of antenna elements and each antennaelement from the number of antenna elements are selected based on atleast one of the location of the receiver 104, the at least one CSI, andthe at least one CQI. The CSI information is obtained based on an uplinkreference signal including a channel feedback or a downlink referencesignal including a channel feedback. The at least one parameter of theat least one antenna element is configured before a signal is beingtransmitted by the transmitter 102. In an embodiment, the at least oneparameter of the at least one antenna element are configured at a RadioFrequency (RF) level or a baseband level.

The FIG. 1 shows a limited overview of the MIMO system 100 but, it is tobe understood that another embodiment is not limited thereto. Further,the MIMO system 100 can include different units communicating among eachother along with other hardware or software components.

FIG. 2 shows an example 2D AAS structure 106 with the cross polarizedantenna elements for 8×4 rectangular arrays, according to an embodimentas disclosed herein. The group of one or more antenna elements forms aTransmitter Receiver Unit (TXRU).

FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of the TXRU using sub-array and fullconnection models, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein. Here,“W” indicates a weight vector, “M” is total number of the antennaelements in the AAS 106, “K” is the number of antenna elements in aparticular TXRU, and “Q” is total number of TXRUs. The AAS 106 provideselement level control for applying weight vectors or the precodermatrices.

In an embodiment, azimuth as well as zenith RF tilt can be controlleddynamically, semi-statically, or statically by controlling TXRUparameters such as selection of the antenna elements, a number ofantenna elements, inter-element spacing and a weight vector to beapplied on the antenna elements.

FIG. 4 illustrates various units of the transmitter 102, according to anembodiment as disclosed herein. In an embodiment, the transmitter 102includes a memory 402, a processor 404, and a communicator 406.

The memory 402 may include one or more computer-readable storage media.The memory 402 may include non-volatile storage elements. Examples ofsuch non-volatile storage elements may include magnetic hard discs,optical discs, floppy discs, flash memories, or forms of electricallyprogrammable memories (EPROM) or electrically erasable and programmable(EEPROM) memories. In addition, the memory 402 may, in some examples, beconsidered a non-transitory storage medium. The term “non-transitory”may indicate that the storage medium is not embodied in a carrier waveor a propagated signal. However, the term “non-transitory” should not beinterpreted to mean that the memory 402 is non-movable. In someexamples, the memory 402 can be configured to store larger amounts ofinformation than the memory. In certain examples, a non-transitorystorage medium may store data that can, over time, change (e.g., inRandom Access Memory (RAM) or cache).

In an embodiment, the processor 404 can be configured to determine aprecoder matrix based on at least one of an inter-antenna elementspacing controlled based on a selection of a number of antenna elementsat the transmitter and a location of at least one receiver, and steer atransmit beam using the precoder matrix towards the at least onereceiver. The width of the transmit beam, the direction of the transmitbeam, and the gain of the transmit beam are determined based on at leastone of the location of the at least one receiver, the at least one CQI,the at least one CSI, and the interference information. Further, thewidth of the transmit beam, the direction of the transmit beam, and thegain of the transmit beam are controlled based on at least one of thenumber of transmit antenna elements, the selection of the number oftransmit antenna elements and the inter-antenna element spacing at thetransmitter.

In another embodiment, the processor 404 can be configured to obtain atleast one of the at least one CQI, the at least one CSI, the at leastone optimal transmit beam selected by the receiver 104, and the locationof the receiver 104. In an embodiment, the precoder matrix comprises aweight vector determined based on the number of antenna elements,wherein the weight vector comprises the weight of each of the antennaelements. The inter-antenna element spacing is determined based on atleast one of the location of the at least one receiver, at least oneCQI, at least one CSI, and interference information. Further, at leastone of the number of antenna elements and each of the antenna elementsof the number of antenna elements are selected based on at least one ofthe location of the at least one receiver, at least one CQI, at leastone CSI, and interference information.

In an embodiment, the antenna elements are arranged in a two-dimensionalarray to create multiple beams within a coverage area. In an embodiment,the precoder matrix is one of static and semi-static and is changeddynamically.

Further, the processor 404 can be configured to steer the at least onebeam based on at least one of the at least one CQI, the at least oneCSI, the at least one optimal transmit beam reported by the receiver104, and the location of the receiver 104, where the at least onetransmit beam is formed using at least one of the weight of each antennaelement, the number of antenna elements, and the inter-antenna elementspacing. In an embodiment, steering the at least one transmit beamincludes forming the at least one sub beam within the at least onetransmit beam based on the at least one precoder matrix and the at leastone of the at least one CQI, the at least one CSI, and the optimaltransmit beam reported by the receiver 104. In an embodiment, steeringthe at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beamsincludes combining the at least two optimal transmit beams based on theat least one precoder matrix. The communicator 406 can be used tocommunicate internally with the units and externally with networkentities.

Unlike conventional systems and methods, the proposed mechanism can beused to control the transmit beam in the RF by adjusting the gain, thewidth, and the direction to have better control on grating lobes. The RFlevel transmit beam can be controlled by parameters such as theinter-element spacing, the number of antenna elements used for formationof the combined transmit beam, weighting factor used for combining thegain from each antenna element, and location of the antenna elements. Ifthe control is available at a TXRU level, then TXRU beam is combined bya desire weight to form expected transmit beam.

The FIG. 4 shows various units of the transmitter 102 but, it is to beunderstood that another embodiment is not limited thereto. Further, thetransmitter 102 can include different units communicating among eachother along with other hardware or software components.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram 500 illustrating a method for beam steeringwhen the location of the receiver 104 is known to the transmitter 102,according to an embodiment as disclosed herein.

At step 502, the method includes determining a precoder matrix based onat least one of an inter-antenna element spacing controlled based on aselection of a number of antenna elements at the transmitter and alocation of at least one receiver. The precoder matrix described hereincomprises a weight vector determined based on the number of antennaelements, wherein the weight vector comprises the weight of each of theantenna elements. The inter-antenna element spacing is determined basedon at least one of the location of the at least one receiver, at leastone CQI, at least one CSI, and interference information. Further, atleast one of the number of antenna elements and each of the antennaelements of the number of antenna elements are selected based on atleast one of the location of the at least one receiver, at least oneCQI, at least one CSI, and interference information. Further, theantenna elements described herein are arranged in a two-dimensionalarray to create multiple beams within a coverage area. In an embodiment,the precoder matrix is one of static and semi-static and is changeddynamically

At step 504, the method includes steering the transmit beam using theprecoder matrix towards the at least one receiver. In an embodiment, awidth of the transmit beam, a direction of the transmit beam, a gain ofthe transmit beam, at least one Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), atleast one Channel State Information (CSI), and interference informationare used along with the at least one of the inter-antenna elementspacing at the transmitter and the location of at least one receiver todetermine the precoder matrix. The width of the transmit beam, thedirection of the transmit beam, and the gain of the transmit beam aredetermined based on at least one of the location of the at least onereceiver, the at least one CQI, the at least one CSI, and theinterference information. Further, the width of the transmit beam, thedirection of the transmit beam, and the gain of the transmit beam arecontrolled based on at least one of the number of transmit antennaelements, the selection of the number of transmit antenna elements andthe inter-antenna element spacing at the transmitter.

Unlike the conventional systems and methods, the parameter is the width,the direction, the gain, the location of the receiver 104, the at leastone CQI, the at least one CSI, and the interference information. In anembodiment, the width, the direction, and the gain are determined basedon the location of the receiver 104. In an embodiment, the precodermatrix includes the weight vector of the appropriate size, where theweight vector includes the weight of each of the antenna elements. In anembodiment, the inter-antenna element spacing is achieved based on theselection of the antenna elements. In an embodiment, at least one of thenumber of antenna elements and each of the antenna elements of thenumber of antenna elements are selected based on at least one of thelocation of the receiver 104, the at least one CSI, the at least oneCQI, and the interference information. In an embodiment, the antennaelements are arranged in a 2D array to create multiple beams within thecoverage area. In an embodiment, the precoder matrix is the static orthe semi-static. In an embodiment, the precoder matrix is changeddynamically.

The various actions, acts, blocks, steps, or the like in the method maybe performed in the order presented, in a different order orsimultaneously. Further, in some of the embodiments, some actions, acts,blocks, steps, or the like may be omitted, added, modified, skipped, orthe like without departing from the scope of the invention.

FIGS. 6a-6c illustrate another high-level overview of the MIMO system100 for beam steering when the location of the receiver 104 is unknownto the transmitter 102, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein.In an embodiment, the MIMO system 100 includes the transmitter 102 andthe receiver 104. In this scenario, the transmitter 102 is unaware ofthe location of the receiver 104.

If the location of the receiver 104 is unknown to the transmitter 102,then the transmitter 102 can be configured to form a plurality oftransmit beams. As shown in the FIG. 6a , the transmitter 102 can beconfigured to form an optimal transmit beam-1 and an optimal transmitbeam-2. For convenience and easy explanation, only two optimal transmitbeams (i.e., the optimal transmit beam-1 and the optimal transmitbeam-2) are considered. It should be noted that any number of optimaltransmit beams can be formed by the transmitter 102 without departingfrom the scope of the invention.

Further, the transmitter 102 can be configured to obtain at least one ofthe at least one CQI, the at least one CSI, the at least one optimaltransmit beam (i.e., optimal transmit beam-1 and the optimal transmitbeam-2) selected by the receiver 104, and the location of the receiver104. If the optimal transmit beam-1 and the optimal transmit beam-2(adjacent transmit beams) as shown in the FIG. 6b report similarfeedback or the location of the receiver 104 in between the adjacenttransmit beams then, the optimal transmit beam-1 and the optimaltransmit beam-2 are combined to form the transmit beam either at the RFlevel or using a digital beam forming across the transmit beam as shownin the FIG. 6c . The digital beam forming can be performed on top of theRF level beam forming to fine tune with instantaneous channel conditionfor achieving a best link gain.

Further, the transmitter 102 can be configured to steer the transmitbeam based on at least one of the at least one CQI, the at least oneCSI, the at least one optimal transmit beam (i.e., the optimal transmitbeam-1 and the optimal transmit beam-2) reported by the receiver 104,and the location of the receiver 104. In an embodiment, the transmitbeam is formed using at least one of the weight of each of the antennaelement, the number of antenna elements, and the inter-antenna elementspacing. In an embodiment, the transmit beam is steered based on theprecoder matrix determined based on the plurality of parameters. Theparameter is the width, the direction, the gain, the location of thereceiver 104, the at least one CQI, the at least one CSI, theinterference information, or combination of same. In an embodiment, theprecoder matrix is dynamically cycled within an allocated resource. Inan embodiment, the transmit beam associated with the receiver 104 asshown in the FIG. 6c is transmitted more frequently, where the transmitbeams not associated with the receiver 104 (not shown) is transmittedless frequently.

In an embodiment, consider a scenario where the location of the receiver104 is unknown to the transmitter 102. The transmitter 102 can beconfigured to form multiple independent optimal transmit beams coveringentire sector in a 2D array, thus reducing the number of active transmitbeams based on the learning from the CSI feedback. In this scenario, thereceiver 104 is assigned with multiple CSI processes corresponding toall or few selected transmit beams depending on resource availabilityfor reference signals transmission. Further, multiple CSI reports areobtained to receive the CQI for each of the transmit beam. The directionand width of the transmit beam can be decided based on the long-termchannel conditions with appropriate periodicity. In order to saveenergy, the transmit beam associated with the receiver 104 aretransmitted with high periodicity and other transmit beams aretransmitted with less periodicity. However, the broadcast and controlchannels are covered using a wider beam. In order to reduce thefeedback, the receiver 104 can report only “N” out of “M” CSI responses(N<=M) to the transmitter 102. The receiver 104 can be served by thetransmit beam with the best CQI and there is no need to transmit CSI-RSin the remaining transmit beams for the receiver 104 in subsequenttransmission.

The FIGS. 6a-6c show a limited overview of the MIMO system 100 but, itis to be understood that another embodiment is not limited thereto.Further, the MIMO system 100 can include different units communicatingamong each other along with other hardware or software components.

FIGS. 7a and 7b illustrate another high-level overview of the MIMOsystem 100 for beam steering when the location of the receiver 104 isunknown to the transmitter 102, according to an embodiment as disclosedherein. As shown in the FIG. 7a , consider a scenario where thelocations of the receivers 104 _(1-K) are unknown to the transmitter102.

The transmitter 102 can be configured to form the wider transmit beamassociated to the receivers 104 _(1-K) based on an approximateidentification of the location of the receivers 104 _(1-K). The CSIprocess is configured for the transmit beam (i.e., the wider beam).Further, by configuring the CSI-RS process and based on their CQIreports, the transmit beams for exact location of the receivers 104_(1-K) could be identified.

In an embodiment, the direction and width of the transmit beams can bedecided based on the location of the receivers 104 _(1-K) and their datarate requirements. The direction and the width of the transmit beamremains fixed based on a coarse location of the receivers 104 _(1-K) fora certain amount of time and then the direction and the width of thetransmit beam is changed depending on the position or the data raterequirements of the receivers 104 _(1-K). In an example, the location ofthe receivers 104 _(1-K) can be determined by using any positionidentification mechanism. After determining the position of thereceivers 104 _(1-K), the direction and the width of the transmit beamto each of the receiver in the receivers 104 _(1-K) are altered.

In an embodiment, the optimization of the transmit beam for the exactlocation of the receivers 104 _(1-K) can be achieved by creatingmultiple sub beams as shown in the FIG. 7b to cover the transmit beamcoverage area for the receivers 104 _(1-K). As shown in the FIG. 3b , asub beam-1 for the receiver 104 ₁, a sub beam-2 for the receiver 104 ₂,and a sub beam-k for the receiver 104 _(k) are created to cover thetransmit beam coverage area.

In an embodiment, the wider transmit beam is formed using the coarselocation of the receiver 104 or the optimal transmit beam reported bythe receiver 104 and the selection of sub-transmit beam is performedusing the open loop technique. In an example, LTE specifications supportprecoder reporting using two different levels (i.e., I₁ and I₂), where“I₁” is considered to be changed with longer duration and “I₂” isconsidered to be altered frequently. Unlike the conventional methods andsystems, the proposed method performs “I₁” selection or the transmitbeam selection as a closed loop technique and “I₂” selection as the openloop technique.

The FIGS. 7a and 7b shows a limited overview of the MIMO system 100 but,it is to be understood that another embodiment is not limited thereto.Further, the MIMO system 100 can include different units communicatingamong each other along with other hardware or software components.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram 800 illustrating a method for beam steeringwhen the location of the receiver 104 is unknown to the transmitter 102,according to an embodiment as disclosed herein. At step 802, the methodincludes obtaining the at least one CQI, the at least one optimaltransmit beam selected by the receiver 104, and the location of thereceiver 104. The method allows the transmitter 102 to obtain the atleast one CQI, the at least one optimal transmit beam selected by thereceiver 104, and the location of the receiver 104.

At step 804, the method includes steering the at least one transmit beambased on at least one of the at least one CQI, at least one of theoptimal transmit beam reported by the receiver 104, and the location ofthe at least one receiver. The method allows the transmitter 102 tosteer the at least one transmit beam based on at least one of the atleast one CQI, the at least one CSI, the at least optimal transmit beamreported by the receiver 104, and the location of the receiver 104,where the at least one transmit beam is formed using at least one of theweight of each antenna element, the number of antenna elements, and theinter-antenna element spacing.

In an embodiment, the at least one transmit beam is steered based on theprecoder matrix determined based on the plurality of parameters. Inanother embodiment, steering the at least one transmit beam includesforming the at least one sub beam within the at least one transmit beambased on the at least one precoder matrix and at least one of the atleast one CQI, the at least one CSI, and the optimal transmit beamreported by the receiver 104. In another embodiment, steering the atleast one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams includescombining at least two transmit beams based on the at least one precodermatrix. In an embodiment, the precoder matrix is dynamically cycledwithin the allocated resource.

In an embodiment, the at least one transmit beam, from the plurality oftransmit beams, associated with the receiver 104 is transmitted with thehigh periodicity, where the at least one transmit beam, from theplurality of transmit beams, not associated with the receiver 104 istransmitted with the low periodicity.

The FIG. 9 shows various units of the receiver 104. In an embodimentsthe receiver 104 include a processor 902, a memory 904, and acommunicator 906.

The memory 904 may include one or more computer-readable storage media.The memory 904 may include non-volatile storage elements. Examples ofsuch non-volatile storage elements may include magnetic hard discs,optical discs, floppy discs, flash memories, or forms of electricallyprogrammable memories (EPROM) or electrically erasable and programmable(EEPROM) memories. In addition, the memory 904 may, in some examples, beconsidered a non-transitory storage medium. The term “non-transitory”may indicate that the storage medium is not embodied in a carrier waveor a propagated signal. However, the term “non-transitory” should not beinterpreted to mean that the memory 904 is non-movable. In someexamples, the memory 904 can be configured to store larger amounts ofinformation than the memory. In certain examples, a non-transitorystorage medium may store data that can, over time, change (e.g., inRandom Access Memory (RAM) or cache).

In an embodiment, the processor 902 can be configured to form aplurality of receive beams, detect a plurality of transmit beams from atleast one transmitter using at least one receive beam from the pluralityof receive beams, measure at least one of at least one Channel QualityIndicator (CQI) of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, at least one Channel State Information (CSI) of the atleast one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams, determineat least one optimal transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beamsand at least one optimal receive beam from the plurality of receivebeams based on at least one of the at least one CQI of the at least onetransmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams, the at least one CSIof the at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams,report to the at least one transmitter at least one optimal transmitbeam determined from the plurality of transmit beams and at least one ofthe at least one CQI of the at least one transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams, at least one CSI of the at least onetransmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams, and a location ofthe receiver, and steer the at least one optimal receive beam towardsthe at least one transmitter.

Further, the processor 902 is configured to form a plurality ofsub-receive beams within the at least one optimal receive beam, detect aplurality of sub-transmit beams within the at least one optimal transmitbeam from the at least one transmitter using the at least onesub-receive beam from the plurality of sub-receive beams, measure atleast one of at least one CQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam fromthe plurality of sub-transmit beams, and at least one CSI of the atleast one sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams,determine at least one optimal sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams and at least one optimal sub-receive beam from theplurality of sub-receive beams based on at least one of the at least oneCQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams, and the at least one CSI of the at least onesub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams, report tothe at least one transmitter the at least one optimal sub-transmit beamdetermined from the plurality of sub-transmit beams and at least one ofthe at least one CQI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from theplurality of sub-transmit beams, the at least one CSI of the at leastone sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams, and thelocation of the receiver, and steer the at least one optimal sub-receivebeam towards the at least one transmitter.

It is to be noted that the at least one optimal receive beam describedherein is s a wider receive beam used to receive at least one ofbroadcast signal and control signal from the at least one transmitterand the at least one optimal sub-receive beam described herein is anarrow receive beam used to receive data signals from the at least onetransmitter. Also it to be noted that the receive beams are also formedby using precoder matrix or weight vector. The examples are shown in theequations (1)-(3). The width of the receive beam, a direction of thereceive beam, and a gain of the receive beam are controlled based on atleast one of the number of receive antenna elements, the selection ofthe number of receive antenna elements and the inter-antenna elementspacing at the receiver as described in above paragraphs.

In an embodiment, to increase the reliability of the reception, the atleast one receive beam from the plurality of receive beams is steered bydynamically cycling at least one precoder matrix over an allocatedresource, wherein dynamic cycling is performed over at least one of atime resource and a frequency resource. Similarly, the at least onesub-receive beam from the plurality of sub-receive beams is steered bydynamically cycling at least one precoder matrix over an allocatedresource, wherein dynamic cycling is performed over at least one of atime resource and a frequency resource. This method is more suitablewhen the channel characteristics is varying at faster manner due to highmobility of the receiver or fast environmental changes.

The FIG. 9 shows various units of the receiver 104 but, it is to beunderstood that another embodiment is not limited thereto. Further, thereceiver 104 can include different units communicating among each otheralong with other hardware or software components.

The FIG. 10 shows a high-level overview of a MIMO system for multipletransmit and receive beams steering. The transmitter 102 transmits asignal using k number of transmit beams and the receiver 104 receivesthe signal using n number of receive beams.

In another embodiment, the receiver 104 is configured to measure thequality of transmit beams and receive beams using at least one ofchannel quality indication (CQI) and channel state information (CSI).CQI is a channel quality indicator, it can be defined at least one of aReference Signal Received Power (RSRP), aSignal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) and an optimalcombination of a modulation scheme and a coding rate. The receiver 104can select the optimal transmit beam and the optimal receive beam basedon the above measurements. At this point, the transmitter 102 is notaware of the optimal transmit beam for the receiver 104. Hence, thereceiver 104 will report at least one of the optimal transmit beam, CQIand CSI of the transmit beams in a control channel. Then, thetransmitter 102 transmit a signal towards the receiver 104 using theoptimal transmit beam, and the receiver 104 receives the signal usingits optimal receive beam. Due to this procedure, directions of optimaltransmit beam and optimal receive beam are aligned and it increases thereceived power which in turn increases the SINR and CQI. This helps inachieving more data rate in the wireless communication.

In an embodiment, the receiver 104 is configured to form multiplesub-receive beams within the receive beam. The sub-receive beam can havelower beam-width and higher gain than the receive beam. The receiver 104will measure the quality of sub-transmit beams and sub-receive beamsusing at least one of CQI and CSI. CQI is a channel quality indicator,it can be defined at least one of the RSRP, the SINR and the optimalcombination of the modulation scheme and the coding rate. The receiver104 can select the optimal sub-transmit beam and optimal sub-receivebeam based on the above measurements. At this point, the transmitter 102is not aware of the optimal sub-transmit beam for the receiver 104.Hence, the receiver 104 will report at least one of the optimalsub-transmit beam, received power, CQI and CSI of the transmit beams ina control channel. Then, the transmitter 102 transmit a signal towardsthe receiver 104 using the optimal sub-transmit beam, and the receiver104 receives the signal using its optimal sub-receive beam. Due to thisprocedure, directions of optimal sub-transmit beam and optimalsub-receive beam are aligned and it further increases the received powerwhich in turn increases the SINR and CQI. This helps in achieving evenmore data rate in the wireless communication.

The FIG. 11 shows a high-level overview of a MIMO system for multiplesub-transmit and sub-receive beams steering. The transmitter 102transmits a signal using i number of sub-transmit beams and the receiver104 receives the signal using j number of sub-receive beams.

In another embodiment, the optimal transmit beam and optimal receivebeam are wider beams (i.e., larger beam-width) used to transmit orreceive broadcast/control signals. It is necessary because the broadcastand control signals are needed to be more robust and less susceptible tochannel variations due to mobility and blockage etc. The optimalsub-transmit beam and optimal sub-receive beam are narrow beam (i.e.,narrow beam-width) used to transmit and receive the data signals. Thedata signals are needed to achieve more data rate by increasing the gainof sub-transmit beam and sub-receive beam. At the same time, the datasignals transmitted using narrow sub-transmit beam create lessinterference to other receivers which in turn increase the SINR forother receivers. This helps wireless network to deploy more parallelcommunications on the same time-frequency resource which is called asmulti-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), resulting in high network throughput.

In an embodiment, the beam-width of the transmit/receive beam, adirection of the transmit/receive beam, and a gain of thetransmit/receive beam are controlled based on number of transmit/receiveantenna elements, the selection of the number of transmit/receiveantenna elements and the inter-antenna element spacing.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram 1200 illustrating a method at a receiver 104for beam steering towards the transmitter 102, according to anembodiment as disclosed herein.

At step 1202, the method includes forming a plurality of receive beams.At step 1204, the method includes detecting a plurality of transmitbeams from at least one transmitter using at least one receive beam fromthe plurality of receive beams. At step 1206, the method includesmeasuring at least one of at least one Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams,at least one Channel State Information (CSI) of the at least onetransmit beam from the plurality of transmit beams. At step 1208, themethod includes determining at least one optimal transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams and at least one optimal receive beam fromthe plurality of receive beams based on at least one of the at least oneCQI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality of transmitbeams, the at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beam from theplurality of transmit beams. At step 1210, the method includes reportingto the at least one transmitter at least one optimal transmit beamdetermined from the plurality of transmit beams and at least one of theat least one CQI of the at least one transmit beam from the plurality oftransmit beams, at least one CSI of the at least one transmit beam fromthe plurality of transmit beams, and a location of the receiver. At step1212, the method includes steering the at least one optimal receive beamtowards the at least one transmitter. The at least one receive beam fromthe plurality of receive beams is steered by dynamically cycling atleast one precoder matrix over an allocated resource, wherein dynamiccycling is performed over at least one of a time resource and afrequency resource. Further, at step 1214, the method includes forming aplurality of sub-receive beams within the at least one optimal receivebeam. At step 1216, the method includes detecting a plurality ofsub-transmit beams within the at least one optimal transmit beam fromthe at least one transmitter using the at least one sub-receive beamfrom the plurality of sub-receive beams. At step 1218, the methodincludes measuring at least one of at least one CQI of the at least onesub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams, and at leastone CSI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams. At step 1320, the method includes determining atleast one optimal sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmitbeams and at least one optimal sub-receive beam from the plurality ofsub-receive beams based on at least one of the at least one CQI of theat least one sub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams,and the at least one CSI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from theplurality of sub-transmit beams. At step 1222, the method includesreporting to the at least one transmitter the at least one optimalsub-transmit beam determined from the plurality of sub-transmit beamsand at least one of the at least one CQI of the at least onesub-transmit beam from the plurality of sub-transmit beams, the at leastone CSI of the at least one sub-transmit beam from the plurality ofsub-transmit beams, and the location of the receiver. At step 1224, themethod includes steering the at least one optimal sub-receive beamtowards the at least one transmitter. The at least one sub-receive beamfrom the plurality of sub-receive beams is steered by dynamicallycycling at least one precoder matrix over an allocated resource, whereindynamic cycling is performed over at least one of a time resource and afrequency resource.

The various actions, acts, blocks, steps, or the like in the method maybe performed in the order presented, in a different order orsimultaneously. Further, in some of the embodiments, some actions, acts,blocks, steps, or the like may be omitted, added, modified, skipped, orthe like without departing from the scope of the invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates a computing environment implementing the method andsystem for the beam steering, according to embodiments as disclosedherein. As depicted in the figure, the computing environment 1302comprises at least one processing unit 1308 that is equipped with acontrol unit 1304 and an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) 1306, a memory1310, a storage unit 1312, plurality of networking devices 1316 and aplurality Input output (I/O) devices 1314. The processing unit 1308 isresponsible for processing the instructions of the technique. Theprocessing unit 1308 receives commands from the control unit in order toperform its processing. Further, any logical and arithmetic operationsinvolved in the execution of the instructions are computed with the helpof the ALU 1306.

The overall computing environment 1302 can be composed of multiplehomogeneous and/or heterogeneous cores, multiple CPUs of differentkinds, special media and other accelerators. The processing unit 1308 isresponsible for processing the instructions of the technique. Further,the plurality of processing units 1308 may be located on a single chipor over multiple chips.

The technique comprising of instructions and codes required for theimplementation are stored in either the memory unit 1310 or the storage1312 or both. At the time of execution, the instructions may be fetchedfrom the corresponding memory 1310 or storage 1312, and executed by theprocessing unit 1308.

In case of any hardware implementations various networking devices 1316or external I/O devices 1314 may be connected to the computingenvironment to support the implementation through the networking unitand the I/O device unit.

The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least onesoftware program running on at least one hardware device and performingnetwork management functions to control the elements. The elements shownin the FIGS. 1 to 13 include blocks which can be at least one of ahardware device, or a combination of hardware device and software unit.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, byapplying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for variousapplications such specific embodiments without departing from thegeneric concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modificationsshould and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood thatthe phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose ofdescription and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodimentsherein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can bepracticed with modification within the spirit and scope of theembodiments as described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for beam steering in a Multiple InputMultiple Output (MIMO) system, the method comprising: determining, by atransmitter, an inter-antenna element spacing to be achieved based on atleast one of a location of at least one receiver, at least one CQI, atleast one CSI, and interference information; determining, by thetransmitter, a number of antenna elements of the transmitter to beselected to achieve the inter-antenna element spacing; achieving, by thetransmitter, said inter-antenna element spacing by dynamically selectingantenna elements from a plurality of antenna elements of the transmitterbased on the determined number of antenna elements; determining, by thetransmitter, a precoder matrix based on the inter-antenna elementspacing; and steering, by the transmitter, a transmit beam using theprecoder matrix towards the at least one receiver.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a width of the transmit beam, a direction of thetransmit beam, a gain of the transmit beam, at least one Channel QualityIndicator (CQI), at least one Channel State Information (CSI), andinterference information are used along with the inter-antenna elementspacing at the transmitter to determine the precoder matrix.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the width of the transmit beam, the directionof the transmit beam, and the gain of the transmit beam are determinedbased on at least one of the location of the at least one receiver, theat least one CQI, the at least one CSI, and the interferenceinformation.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the width of the transmitbeam, the direction of the transmit beam, and the gain of the transmitbeam are controlled based on at least one of the number of transmitantenna elements, the selection of the number of transmit antennaelements and the inter-antenna element spacing at the transmitter. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the precoder matrix comprises a weightvector determined based on the number of antenna elements, wherein theweight vector comprises the weight of each of the antenna elements. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the location of the atleast one receiver, the at least one CQI, the at least one CSI, and theinterference information is at least one of a reported information fromthe at least one receiver and an estimated information at thetransmitter.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of thenumber of antenna elements and each of the antenna elements of thenumber of antenna elements are selected based on at least one of thelocation of the at least one receiver, at least one CQI, at least oneCSI, and interference information.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theantenna elements are arranged in a two-dimensional array to createmultiple beams within a coverage area.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe precoder matrix is one of static and semi-static.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the precoder matrix is changed dynamically.
 11. Atransmitter for beam steering in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)system, the transmitter comprising: a memory; and a processor, coupledto the memory, configured to: determine an inter-antenna element spacingto be achieved based on at least one of a location of at least onereceiver, at least one CQI, at least one CSI, and interferenceinformation; determine a number of antenna elements of the transmitterto be selected to achieve the inter-antenna element spacing; achievesaid inter-antenna element spacing by dynamically selecting antennaelements from a plurality of antenna elements of the transmitter basedon the determined number of antenna elements; determine a precodermatrix based on at least one of the inter-antenna element spacing, andsteer a transmit beam using the precoder matrix towards the at least onereceiver.
 12. The transmitter of claim 11, wherein a width of thetransmit beam, a direction of the transmit beam, a gain of the transmitbeam, at least one Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), at least one ChannelState Information (CSI), and interference information are used alongwith the inter-antenna element spacing at the transmitter to determinethe precoder matrix.
 13. The transmitter of claim 12, wherein the widthof the transmit beam, the direction of the transmit beam, and the gainof the transmit beam are determined based on at least one of thelocation of the at least one receiver, the at least one CQI, the atleast one CSI, and interference information.
 14. The transmitter ofclaim 12, wherein the width of the transmit beam, the direction of thetransmit beam, and the gain of the transmit beam are controlled based onat least one of the number of transmit antenna elements, the selectionof the number of transmit antenna elements and the inter-antenna elementspacing at the transmitter.
 15. The transmitter of claim 11, wherein theprecoder matrix comprises a weight vector determined based on the numberof antenna elements, wherein the weight vector comprises the weight ofeach of the antenna elements.
 16. The transmitter of claim 11, whereinat least one of the location of the at least one receiver, the at leastone CQI, the at least one CSI, and the interference information is atleast one of a reported information from the at least one receiver andan estimated information at the transmitter.
 17. The transmitter ofclaim 11, wherein at least one of the number of antenna elements andeach of the antenna elements of the number of antenna elements areselected based on at least one of the location of at least one receiver,at least one CQI, at least one CSI, and interference information. 18.The transmitter of claim 11, wherein the antenna elements are arrangedin a two-dimensional array to create multiple beams within a coveragearea.
 19. The transmitter of claim 11, wherein the precoder matrix isone of static and semi-static.
 20. The transmitter of claim 11, whereinthe precoder matrix is changed dynamically.